congressgov-mcp-server

Congress.gov Daily Record

congressgov_daily_record

Read-onlyIdempotent

Browse the daily Congressional Record — floor speeches, debates, and legislative text published each day Congress is in session. Navigation is hierarchical: volumes (via 'list') → issues (via 'issues') → articles (via 'articles'). Use 'list' to find recent volumes, 'issues' to see what's in a volume, and 'articles' to access individual speeches and debate sections. 'articles' lists each article and its format URLs; 'content' then reads one article's actual text, a bounded character window at a time.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`limit`	No	Results per page (1-250).
`format`	No	Document format for 'content'. 'text' is GPO's Formatted Text — plain, pre-formatted print output, published for every document checked. 'xml' prefers United States Legislative Markup and falls back to Formatted XML; it exists on some bill text versions and on no committee report or Congressional Record article. PDF is not retrieved — read one at the format URLs 'text'/'articles' return.	text
`offset`	No	Pagination offset.
`operation`	Yes	Which data to retrieve.
`issueNumber`	No	Issue number within a volume. Required for 'articles' and 'content'. List rows carry this as a string (e.g. "109") — both forms are accepted.
`articleIndex`	No	Which article 'content' reads, 0-based against the issue's whole article sequence — the same absolute position 'articles' pages through with offset. Ignored by other operations.
`volumeNumber`	No	Volume number. Required for 'issues', 'articles', and 'content'. Accepts a number or the digit-string form list rows carry.
`characterLimit`	No	Maximum characters to return for 'content' (1-100000). Legislative documents run past a million characters, so a full bill takes several windows.
`characterOffset`	No	First character to return for 'content', 0-based. Offsets are exact and are never snapped to a section or paragraph break, so feeding the response's nextOffset back walks the whole document with every character returned exactly once.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`data`	No	Result rows. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`notice`	No	Guidance when results are empty, a page is past the end, or a caveat applies.
`content`	No	Dynamic upstream JSON record.
`pagination`	No	Pagination metadata: total count and next offset.
`totalCount`	No	Total results across all pages.
`effectiveQuery`	No	The browse scope and applied filters.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed1 schema field changedSep 22, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of the document, so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of every text the call would window — the document on 'content', or every returned row's summary text on 'summaries' — so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

Changed1 schema field changedAug 30, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / content

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Dynamic upstream JSON record.",
+  "properties": {},
+  "type": "object"
+}

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 25, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "effectiveQuery",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: A requested bill, member, committee, report, vote, or nomination does not exist in Congress.gov. `rate_limited`: The Congress.gov API rate limit (5,000 requests/hour per key) was exceeded. `invalid_request`: Congress.gov rejected the request as malformed — a bad date range or an identifier with an unexpected shape. `upstream_error`: Congress.gov returned an unexpected error (5xx or another non-2xx status). `document_unavailable`: The 'content' selection resolves to no retrievable document — the text version or article index is past the end of the list, the record publishes no formats at all, or Congress.gov does not hold the file its own metadata names. `format_unavailable`: The document exists but publishes nothing in the requested 'format' — some text versions and committee reports ship PDF only, and no Congressional Record article publishes XML. `document_fetch_failed`: www.congress.gov did not return a readable document — a non-2xx status, a network failure, an empty body, or a content type that is not text or XML. `document_too_large`: The document is larger than the byte ceiling this server retrieves, so no character window can be served from it. `offset_past_end`: characterOffset is at or beyond the last character of the document, so the window would be empty. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "not_found",
+            "rate_limited",
+            "invalid_request",
+            "upstream_error",
+            "document_unavailable",
+            "format_unavailable",
+            "document_fetch_failed",
+            "document_too_large",
+            "offset_past_end"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "effectiveQuery",
-  "totalCount"
-]

Changed16 schema fields changedAug 17, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / articleIndex

Added value: +{
+  "default": 0,
+  "description": "Which article 'content' reads, 0-based against the issue's whole article sequence — the same absolute position 'articles' pages through with offset. Ignored by other operations.",
+  "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / characterLimit

Added value: +{
+  "default": 25000,
+  "description": "Maximum characters to return for 'content' (1-100000). Legislative documents run past a million characters, so a full bill takes several windows.",
+  "maximum": 100000,
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / characterOffset

Added value: +{
+  "default": 0,
+  "description": "First character to return for 'content', 0-based. Offsets are exact and are never snapped to a section or paragraph break, so feeding the response's nextOffset back walks the whole document with every character returned exactly once.",
+  "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+  "minimum": 0,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / format

Added value: +{
+  "default": "text",
+  "description": "Document format for 'content'. 'text' is GPO's Formatted Text — plain, pre-formatted print output, published for every document checked. 'xml' prefers United States Legislative Markup and falls back to Formatted XML; it exists on some bill text versions and on no committee report or Congressional Record article. PDF is not retrieved — read one at the format URLs 'text'/'articles' return.",
+  "enum": [
+    "text",
+    "xml"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / issueNumber / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "description": "Positive integer form.",
+    "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
+    "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  {
+    "description": "Digit-string form, as list rows carry it.",
+    "pattern": "^0*[1-9]\\d*$",
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

changedInput schema / properties / issueNumber / description

Previous value: -"Issue number within a volume. Required for 'articles'."New value: +"Issue number within a volume. Required for 'articles' and 'content'. List rows carry this as a string (e.g. \"109\") — both forms are accepted."

removedInput schema / properties / issueNumber / exclusiveMinimum
```
Removed value: -0
```
removedInput schema / properties / issueNumber / maximum
```
Removed value: -9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / issueNumber / type
```
Removed value: -"integer"
```

changedInput schema / properties / operation / enum

Previous value: -[
-  "list",
-  "issues",
-  "articles"
-]New value: +[
+  "list",
+  "issues",
+  "articles",
+  "content"
+]

addedInput schema / properties / volumeNumber / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "description": "Positive integer form.",
+    "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
+    "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  {
+    "description": "Digit-string form, as list rows carry it.",
+    "pattern": "^0*[1-9]\\d*$",
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

changedInput schema / properties / volumeNumber / description

Previous value: -"Volume number. Required for 'issues' and 'articles'."New value: +"Volume number. Required for 'issues', 'articles', and 'content'. Accepts a number or the digit-string form list rows carry."

removedInput schema / properties / volumeNumber / exclusiveMinimum
```
Removed value: -0
```
removedInput schema / properties / volumeNumber / maximum
```
Removed value: -9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / volumeNumber / type
```
Removed value: -"integer"
```

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "data",
-  "pagination",
-  "effectiveQuery",
-  "totalCount"
-]New value: +[
+  "effectiveQuery",
+  "totalCount"
+]

Changed5 schema fields changedMay 30, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / effectiveQuery

Added value: +{
+  "description": "The browse scope and applied filters.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / notice

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Guidance when results are empty, a page is past the end, or a caveat applies.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / query

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Echo of the applied filters for this query. Rendered as the first line of the response so the caller can confirm what was searched.",
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedOutput schema / properties / totalCount

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total results across all pages.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "data",
-  "pagination"
-]New value: +[
+  "data",
+  "pagination",
+  "effectiveQuery",
+  "totalCount"
+]

Changed5 schema fields changedMay 21, 2026

removedOutput schema / description

Removed value: -"Congressional Record data from Congress.gov API."

addedOutput schema / properties / data

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Result rows. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": {},
+    "description": "Upstream JSON record. Per-tool item shape is rendered in the markdown body.",
+    "properties": {},
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / pagination

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Pagination metadata: total count and next offset.",
+  "properties": {
+    "count": {
+      "description": "Total result count across all pages.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": 0,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "nextOffset": {
+      "anyOf": [
+        {
+          "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+          "minimum": 0,
+          "type": "integer"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "null"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "Offset to pass for the next page, or null when there are no more pages."
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "count"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / query

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Echo of the applied filters for this query. Rendered as the first line of the response so the caller can confirm what was searched.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / required

Added value: +[
+  "data",
+  "pagination"
+]

First observedMar 28, 2026

TDQS

A4.3/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Beyond the readOnlyHint, openWorldHint, and idempotentHint annotations, it reveals behavioral details: navigation is hierarchical, article listing exposes format URLs, and content reads return 'a bounded character window at a time.' No contradiction with annotations.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Four sentences, front-loaded with the resource and content, then a compact operation map. Every phrase earns its place and the repeated 'via X' structure keeps it scannable without fluff.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a complex nine-parameter, multi-operation tool, the description supplies the navigation skeleton — list → issues → articles → content — and the windowed-read behavior. Parameter details and return shapes are covered by the fully described schema and output schema, so nothing an agent needs to begin correctly is missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3. The tool description adds little parameter-level meaning beyond mapping operation names to navigation steps and hinting at windowed reading; volume, issue, offset, and format semantics are already well documented in the schema.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description opens with a specific verb and resource — 'Browse the daily Congressional Record' — and enumerates contained content: floor speeches, debates, and legislative text. This makes it unmistakable against siblings like bill_lookup or committee_reports, and the operation names reinforce its distinct scope.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The description explicitly maps each operation to a use case: 'list' to find volumes, 'issues' to inspect a volume, 'articles' to access speeches, and 'content' for text. It gives clear context but does not name sibling tools or state when not to use this tool, so it stops short of full exclusion guidance.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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